A big shout-out to Mazie Hirono, the new senator-elect (and a Democrat) from Hawaii. Although I don’t know if she practices now, she was raised Jodo Shinshu, and has said she takes a lot of her values from Buddhism.

For complicated reasons, I had to register my work email with the federal government as a contractor, even though my employer doesn’t bid for government contracts. So I got myself on a mailing list of contractor support entities, which is generally just annoying as hell. Their email traffic peaked on Monday, and a lot of subject lines dealt with (paraphrasing) “how to benefit from coming change.”

First subject line for today: “Developing a compliant affirmative action plan.”

Between the subject of this posting, a Buddhist in the Senate, and the cultural changes mentioned in the last posting, it’s a good day to rest, bask in the achievements, and take stock. I’m thrilled I’ll be able to forget about R-Money and his sidekick; I have a palpable sense of relief that one large battle is over.

Wandered over to RedState last night briefly. Some of them actually seem to get what’s going on – “I guess we have to face the fact that a majority want a social democracy”; but others are still wandering in the conservative fog, for example they still can’t figure out why women – “inexplicably” was the word they used – went for Obama. A lot of photons wasted on denying this fact – “no no, self-supporting women went equal for Obama vs Romney, only the ones on the dole were for Obama”. In other words, it’s a function of being dependent on the government. Yeah, whatever. Of course no studies or data whatsoever to support this claim. But the bubble appears to be weaker today.

Was strolling the internets this morning – one particular commenter from Australia congratulated us saying “what your Republicans call socialism, the rest of the world calls common sense”. I’m going to remember that.

More good (and unbelievable) news – we actually passed a tax increase in California, championed by Jerry Brown to balance the budget:

Proposition 30 will raise the state’s sales tax by a quarter of a cent for four years and increase income taxes for people who make at least $250,000 by up to 3 percentage points for seven years. It is projected to raise an average of $6 billion annually for the state’s general fund and education to prevent nearly $6 billion in “trigger cuts,” mostly to education, this year.

It is the first general tax Californians have passed in two decades.

Brown made Proposition 30 the hallmark of his administration, spending the year trying to convince voters that California schools have reached a breaking point and need taxpayers to come to the rescue.

“It sold itself,” he said at a victory party in Sacramento. “The core reason it brought people together was a belief in schools and universities and the capacity of government to make wise investments that benefit all of us.”

How long before the Republicans in the House begin the impeachment hearings?

I know it’s obvious that the Senate won’t go along, but the feckin’ idjits in the House need something to do, now that they have some time on their hands, and they lose control in 2014. Even some secure “R” seats are liable to go from Red to Blue. Yes, we’re still looking at you, Ms. Michele Bachmann and Mr. Steve King.

One other problem that the Republicans face in 2016 – they’re likely to be facing a WHITE Democratic Presidential candidate. Male, or female.
I’m hoping for some combination of either Hillary, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, or Sherrod Brown. And if Patrick Duval is in the mix, I’m fine with that, too.

“One other problem that the Republicans face in 2016 –” funny thing is, the same party that railed against Obama’s “lack of qualifications” to be President ran a guy who was a one term governor, in an easy to govern small state, who left office with a 60% disapproval rating and whose work experience (Bain) involved being the VC equivalent of an ambulance chaser.

One overlooked House Race – FL 18th District An Irishman by the name of Patrick Murphy (how Irish can you get?) beat Alan West, a really obnoxious teabagger – he is the one who said 80 democrats in the House are Communist Party members.

Some might like this one. It really cracked me up. I particularly like the second letter, but they’re all good. It’s nice for these types to occassionally be reminded that THEY’RE the minority, in a nice, kind, gentle way, of course.

I can easily clear up attorney Dean Broyles’ confusion and misunderstanding that “yoga poses … are, at their base, prayers to Hindu deities.”